Recording medium containing moving picture data and additional information thereof and reproducing method and apparatus of the recording medium

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a recording medium containing moving picture data and additional information thereof and to reproducing method and apparatus of the recording medium. The present recording medium has script files including additional information about moving picture data, e.g., scene descriptive text and introduction of characters, etc. In addition, information linking each script file with a section of moving picture data to be presented with contents of the script file is included in a link data file or is contained in a filename of the script file. In reproduction of the recording medium, a script file linked with presently reproduced moving picture data section is determined and searched for based on the link data file or every filename of the script files, and contents of the found script file are presented together with the presently reproduced moving picture data. Furthermore, previously presented additional information is removed depending on data or filename of the found script file.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a recording medium on whichmoving picture data have been recorded together with script filesincluding additional information related with the moving picture data.

[0003] The present invention further relates to a method of linkingscript files with moving picture data and relates to method andapparatus of reproducing the moving picture data along with script filesthereof.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] An optical disk such as DVD (Digital Versatile Disk) being ableto store digital data is widely used in these days. A DVD can store notonly audio data but also moving picture data of long time. A DVD has tworecording partitions, one for storing digital data stream such as movingpicture data, and the other for storing navigation data which are usedto control reproduction of the stored digital data stream.

[0006] Thus, when a DVD having digital data stream thereon is placedinto a conventional DVD player, the player reads out thereproduction-controlling data written in the navigation data partitionfirst and stores them in a memory equipped therein. Afterwards, the DVDplayer can select or search for an arbitrary section of moving picturedata using the reproduction-controlling data in the memory and playbackit.

[0007] A DVD may include additional information about moving picturedata recorded thereon. Namely, a DVD may include scene descriptive textsand introduction of characters, etc. besides video and audio data. Suchadditional information may be informed to a viewer who wants moreinformation about moving pictures being presented.

[0008] However, how to link such additional information with movingpicture data and how to reproduce it along with moving picture data arenot yet decided.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0009] It is an object of the present invention to provide a method oflinking additional information with each section of moving picture dataand of storing the additional information.

[0010] It is another object of the present invention to provide methodand apparatus of reproducing a recording medium including the additionalinformation as well as moving picture data thereon.

[0011] A recording medium in accordance with the present invention ischaracterized in that it has data comprising: moving picture data;additional information, written in the form of file, related with saidmoving picture data; and link information linking said at least one linkinformation file with said moving picture data.

[0012] A method of reproducing a recording medium containing movingpicture data and additional information thereof in accordance with thepresent invention is characterized in that it comprises the steps of:determining whether there is at least one file including additionalinformation for moving picture data on a recording medium; selecting apiece of link information linking said at least one link informationfile with at least one section of moving picture data based on thedetermination result, reading the selected piece of link informationfrom the recording medium, and storing the read piece of linkinformation into storage means other than the recording medium; andsearching for an additional information file linked with presentlyreproduced moving picture data with reference to the stored piece oflink information, and outputting contents of the found additionalinformation file together with moving picture data.

[0013] An apparatus of reproducing a recording medium containing movingpicture data and additional information thereof in accordance with thepresent invention is characterized in that it comprises: a data pickupreading data recorded on a recording medium; a data storage for storinga piece of link information, read by said data pickup, linking at leastone file, which includes additional information about moving picturedata recorded on the recording medium, with moving picture data; and acontroller searching for an additional information file linked withpresently reproduced moving picture data based on the piece of linkinformation stored in said data storage, and having contents of thefound additional information file presented.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide afurther understandings of the invention, illustrate the preferredembodiments of the invention, and together with the description, serveto explain the principles of the present invention.

[0015]FIG. 1 schematically shows a recording medium such as a DVDincluding script files containing additional information about movingpicture data;

[0016]FIGS. 2 and 3 show structures of Video Manager Information (VMGI)and Video Title Set Information (VTSI), respectively, recorded in anavigation data zone of the recording medium of FIG. 1;

[0017]FIG. 4 shows hierarchically-structured digital data streamrecorded on a recording medium;

[0018]FIG. 5 shows a part of program chain information including4-byte-long PGC Content field a ‘Script Flag’ is allocated in;

[0019]FIG. 6 shows the first embodiment of a method linking script fileswith moving picture data according to the present invention;

[0020]FIG. 7 shows the second embodiment of a method linking scriptfiles with moving picture data according to the present invention;

[0021]FIG. 8 shows the third embodiment of a method linking script fileswith moving picture data according to the present invention;

[0022]FIG. 9 shows an embodiment of a method specifying that a movingpicture data section has no related additional information;

[0023]FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an apparatus reproducing a recordingmedium including script files as well as moving picture data inaccordance with the present invention;

[0024]FIG. 11 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method reproducing arecording medium including script files as well as moving picture datain accordance with the present invention;

[0025]FIG. 12 shows an example of screen displaying both a scene bymoving picture data and scene descriptive text by a script file; and

[0026]FIG. 13 is a flow chart of another embodiment of a methodreproducing a recording medium including script files as well as movingpicture data in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0027] In order that the invention may be fully understood, a preferredembodiment thereof will now be described with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

[0028] Embodiments of a method linking additional information withmoving picture data in accordance with the present invention aredescribed first.

[0029]FIG. 1 schematically shows a recording medium such as a DVDincluding script files containing additional information about movingpicture data. The DVD of FIG. 1 is composed of three recordingpartitions, the first ‘Data Zone (DZ)’ for storing digital data streamsuch as moving picture data, the second ‘Navigation Data Zone (NDZ)’ forstoring navigation data used to control reproduction of the storeddigital data stream in the DZ, and the third ‘Script File Zone (SFZ)’for storing script files having additional and/or detailed informationabout moving picture data.

[0030] In the SFZ, at least one link data file, which links script fileswith corresponding sections of moving picture data, may be included.

[0031] The additional information in the script file may be written inthe conventional HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) format, and a singlescript file is linked with at least one a predetermined-sized VOBU(Video OBject Unit) which is defined in the general DVD recordingstandard.

[0032] In addition, the link data file may be created for each PGCI(ProGram Chain Information) which is also defined in the general DVDrecording standard, and it is composed of link entries where each entryconsists of a script file identifier and an address of VOBUs associatedwith a script file.

[0033]FIG. 2 shows the structure of Video Manager Information (VMGI)recorded in the NDZ. The VMGI includes Video Manager Menu VOBU AddressMap ‘VMGM_VOBU_ADMAP’ in which 4-byte-long start addresses of VideoManager Menu VOBUs ‘VMGM_VOBU_Ads’ are written.

[0034]FIG. 3 shows the structure of Video Title Set Information (VTSI)recorded in the NDZ. The VTSI includes Video Title Set Video Object UnitAddress Map ‘VTS_VOBU_ADMAP’ in which 4-byte-long start addresses ofVideo Title Set VOBUs ‘VTS_VOBU_Ads’ are written.

[0035]FIG. 4 shows hierarchically-structured digital data streamrecorded on a DVD. According to the hierarchical structure depicted inFIG. 4, single PGCI which has been written in the PGCI table included inthe VMGI and/or VTSI is associated with at least one VOB (Video OBject),called program section or program chain, where a single VOB is composedof many VOBUs containing actual data.

[0036] In the PGCI, 4-byte-long PGC Content field is included as shownin FIG. 5. The PGC Content field consists of the following sub-fields:8-bit-long ‘Number of Cells’, 7-bit-long ‘Number of Programs’, 1-bit‘Script Flag’, and 16-bit-long ‘Reserved’.

[0037] The 1-bit ‘Script Flag’ indicates whether or not script files arelinked with an associated program chain. If the ‘Script Flag’ is set itmeans that there are linked script files, and if reset it means thatthere are not.

[0038] If there are linked script files, information for linking eachscript file with a corresponding section of moving picture databelonging to a program chain is stored in a link data file.

[0039]FIG. 6 shows an example of the structure of a link data file.There may be several link data files, as shown in FIG. 6, to match onefile with one program chain when a plurality of program chains exist ona DVD. Therefore, a link data file may have a filename indicative of anassociated PGCI to distinguish what link data file is associated withwhat PGCI. For example, the first link data file associated with thePGCI ‘PGCI #1’ of the first program section is named to ‘PGC_(—)1.lk’,and, in the same manner, the second link data file associated with thePGCI ‘PGCI #2’ of the second program section is named to ‘PGC_(—)2.lk’where the extension ‘lk’ implies link data file.

[0040] In the example of a link data file depicted in FIG. 6, each linkentry written in the link data file consists of an address of a VOBUwith which contents of a linked script file are to be presented and arecording address of the linked script file. For example, if it issupposed that an address of a VOBU with which contents of a linkedscript file are to be presented is ‘10000’ and a recording address ofthe linked script file is ‘001001h’, a corresponding link entry has dataof ‘10000/001001h’ where the symbol ‘/’ is a delimiter. Other symbolsuch as a space may be used instead of ‘/’.

[0041]FIG. 7 shows another example of the structure of a link data file.In the example of FIG. 7, each link data file is associated with acorresponding program chain through a unique filename the same as theabove example. Namely, a link data file is named to ‘PGC_(—)1.lk’ forthe first PGCI, and to ‘PGC_(—)2.lk’ for the second PGCI. Each linkentry consists of an address of a VOBU with which contents of a linkedscript file are to be presented and a filename of the linked scriptfile. For example, if it is supposed that an address of a VOBU withwhich contents of a linked script file are to be presented is ‘10000’and a filename of the linked script file is ‘xxxx0.sc’, a correspondinglink entry has data of ‘10000/xxxx0.sc’ where the symbol ‘/’ is adelimiter.

[0042] When a DVD including the above-explained script files and atleast one link data file thereon is placed into a DVD player being ableto the DVD and a program chain to reproduce is selected at the same timefrom a user, the DVD player checks the 1-bit ‘Script Flag’ written inthe PGC Content field ‘PGC_CNT’ in PGCI of the selected program chain,first. If the ‘Script Flag’ is 1, the DVD player considers that scriptfiles associated with the selected program chain have been written inthe SFZ, reads a data link file associated with the selected programchain from the SFZ, and stores the read data link file in a memory. Inthese successive operations, all script files in the SFZ may be read outand then stored in the memory along with the link data file.

[0043] Afterwards, the selected program chain is reproduced. If scriptdisplay mode is activated, the DVD player examines all link entries inthe link data file, stored in the memory, associated with the programchain being presented in order to search for an address which is equalto a start address of a VOBU being reproduced. If the same address isfound in the link entries, the DVD player obtains a recording address ora filename of a script file combined with the found address through adelimiter ‘/’, and decodes data contained in the identified script fileby the obtained recording address or filename while reading the scriptfile from the memory or the DVD. Through these operations, a viewer isable to view additional information related with the presented movingpictures at the same time while watching the moving pictures.

[0044] In the above embodiment, an additional link data file isnecessary to link script files with moving picture data. However, scriptfiles can be linked directly with moving picture data without theabove-explained link data file.

[0045]FIG. 8 is another embodiment of a method linking script files withmoving picture data in accordance with the present invention. In theembodiment of FIG. 8, every script file has filename including anaddress of a VOBU to be presented along with the script file. Forexample, if it is supposed that a script file is to be presented withthe fifth VOBU ‘VOBU #5’ of which start address is ‘10000’, the scriptfile includes a string of ‘10000.sc’ in its filename where the ‘sc’means script file. In other words, a start address of a VOBU to bepresented with additional information included in a script file must beused as a filename (extension excluded) of the script file, as shown inFIG. 8.

[0046] Therefore, a DVD player reads all script files written in the SFZof a DVD and knows each start address of a VOBU to be presented with ascript file based on each filename before starting reproduction.Afterwards, if there is a filename matched with an address of a VOBUbeing presented now, the DVD player reads data in a script file havingthe matched filename and decodes out them. Through these operations, aviewer can view additional information related with the presented movingpictures at the same time while watching the moving pictures.

[0047] Entire script files may be retrieved from a DVD and then storedin a memory at an initial disk loading process when a DVD is placed.Otherwise, linked script files are retrieved from a DVD and then decodedsequentially when a viewer activates script display mode. If a memoryhas enough storage capacity, it is preferable to respond to user'sscript display request after storing all script files in the memory.

[0048] An arbitrary section of moving picture data, namely several VOBUsmay have no additional information although moving picture data haveadditional information overall. For such a section, a script file ofwhich filename includes a start address of the section is still created,however, the script file has only null data. FIG. 9 shows this methodschematically.

[0049] In the example of FIG. 9 illustrating a case that an arbitrarysection of moving picture data is not supplied with additionalinformation, a section from the L-th VOBU ‘VOBU #L’ to the (m−1)-th‘VOBU #m−1’ has no additional information, so that a script file ofwhich filename is ‘30000’, same with the address of the L-th VOBU, hasnull data of fixed size.

[0050] Therefore, when the L-th VOBU is encountered while reproducingthe moving picture data, the DVD player reads contents written in thescript file ‘30000.sc’ and it deletes previously-outputted contents ofthe script file ‘21000.sc’ in a viewing screen because the contents ofthe file ‘30000.sc’ are all null. As a result, while a section of movingpicture data not supplied with additional information is beingreproduced, previous additional information not related with currentsection disappears in a screen.

[0051] Instead of writing null data in a script file, a special code,e.g., ‘-’ is added to the filename of a script file to indicate that alinked section has no additional information. For example, in theexample of FIG. 9, the script file of which filename is same with theaddress of the L-th VOBU ‘VOBU #L’ is named to ‘-30000.sc’. Therefore,if a script file of which filename includes the code ‘-’ is linked withcurrent VOBU, a previously-presented script file is removed in a screenimmediately without reading data in the script file.

[0052] An embodiment of method and apparatus of reproducing a recordingmedium including script files linked with moving picture data asexplained above is now described in detail.

[0053]FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an apparatus reproducing a recordingmedium including script files as well as moving picture data inaccordance with the present invention. The reproducing apparatus of FIG.10 comprises an optical pickup 11 detecting signals recorded on a DVD 10on which script files are also written; a reproduction processing unit12 processing the detected signals by the pickup 11 to restore them tovideo, audio, and/or text data; a spindle motor 17 rotating the DVD 10;a sled motor 16 moving the pickup 11 inward and outward on the DVD 10; aservo unit 15 conducting servo operations for the spindle motor 17, thesled motor 16, and an objective lens of the pickup 11; a controllingunit 13 controlling all elements to reproduce the DVD 10; and a memory14 for temporarily storing data produced while reproducing the DVD 10and script files.

[0054] The reproduction processing unit 12 may be composed of a digitalsignal processor (DSP) 12 a restoring the detected RF signals to digitaldata after converting the RF signals to binary signals, a decoder 12 bdecoding compressed digital data restored by the digital signalprocessor 12 a, and the like. The controlling unit 13 may be composed ofa file system 13 a searching for and reading a link data file or ascript file stored in the memory 14 or recorded on the DVD 10, amicroprocessor 13 b controlling reproduction of recorded data and scriptfiles in connection with the file system 13 a, and so on. A reproductionoperation, conducted under the control of the controlling unit 13, ofboth moving picture data and related additional information in scriptfiles is performed as follows.

[0055]FIG. 11 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method reproducing arecording medium including script files as well as moving picture datain accordance with the present invention.

[0056] The procedures depicted in FIG. 11 are on the assumption that theDVD 10 includes a link data file in the SFZ as the embodiments of FIGS.7 and 8. When the DVD 10 is placed exactly (S10), the controlling unit13 reads navigation data for controlling reproduction of the DVD 10 fromthe NDZ and stores them in the memory 14, first (S11). There are theVMGI and the VTSI containing PGCI in the navigation data stored in thememory 14.

[0057] Because there may be several program chains on the DVD 10, thecontrolling unit 13 waits until a program chain is chosen to bereproduced by a user. If a program chain is selected, the controllingunit 13 checks 1-bit ‘Script Flag’ allocated in the PGC Content field‘PGC_CNT’ written in PGCI associated with the chosen program chain(S12). If the value of ‘Script Flag’ is 0, the controlling unit 13 knowsthat there is no additional information associated with the chosenprogram chain, and conducts a general DVD reproducing operation (S13).

[0058] If the values of ‘Script Flag’ is 1, the controlling unit 13considers that there is at least one stored script file, linked with theselected program chain, in the SFZ of the DVD 10, and it searches theSFZ of the DVD 10 for a link data file having filename associated withthe PGCI of the chosen program chain. If found, the controlling unit 13determines that the chosen program chain has linked script files,otherwise, it determines that the chosen program chain does not.

[0059] If it is determined that there is additional information relatedwith the program chain, the controlling unit 13 reads out the found datalink file from the SFZ (S14) and stores it in the memory 14. Specially,if storage of the memory 14 is large enough to store many script files,the controlling unit 13 analyzes all link entries of the stored linkdata file, reads every script file identified by address or filenamewritten in each link entry, and stores the read script files in thememory 14, before starting to reproduce moving picture data belonging tothe chosen program chain (S15).

[0060] Afterwards, the controlling unit 13 conducts reproducingoperation of the selected program chain (S16). If current reproducingmode is script display one or if script display mode is requested from auser during reproduction of moving picture data (S17), the controllingunit 13 receives an address of a VOBU being reproduced now from thereproduction processing unit 12 or knows the address from thealready-stored VTSI in the memory 14 (S18), and it searches the linkdata file stored in the memory 14 for a link entry of which VOBU addressmember is equal to the received or known address (S19). If the linkentry is not found, the controlling unit 13 searches for a link entry ofwhich VOBU address member is closest to and smaller than the received orknown address (S19). If a link entry is found from the former or thelatter search operation, the controlling unit 13 identifies a recordingaddress or a filename of a script file from the other member, delimitedby ‘/’, of the found link entry, and searches the DVD 10 or the memory14 for a script file identified by the address or filename through thefile system 13 a (S20).

[0061] If an associated script file is found, its contents aretransmitted to the reproduction processing unit 12 which decodes thereceived contents in accordance with compressing way of the contents, ifcompressed, and outputs them along with video and audio data decodedfrom reproduced moving picture data (S21). Owing to this dual decodingand outputting operation, a scene by moving picture data and scenedescriptive text by a script file are displayed together in a singlescreen as shown in FIG. 12.

[0062] In the meantime, if the found script file contains null data orhas a special code such as ‘-’ indicative of no linked additionalinformation in its filename as explained referring to FIG. 9, thecontrolling unit 13 supplies the reproduction processing unit 12 with asignal indicative of no information to command the reproductionprocessing unit 12 to blank a present script window. Consequently,continuous display of previous script file is prevented.

[0063]FIG. 13 is a flow chart of another embodiment of a methodreproducing a recording medium including script files as well as movingpicture data in accordance with the present invention.

[0064] The procedures depicted in FIG. 13 are on the assumption that theDVD 10 includes no link data file as the embodiment of FIG. 9.

[0065] The procedures of the embodiment of FIG. 13 are totally same withthose of FIG. 11 except the following distinctive steps. In theembodiment of FIG. 13, if it is determined that a selected program chainhas additional information (S32), the address range of the selectedprogram chain composed of at least one VOB is detected first and scriptfiles named with address belonging to the detected address range are allread from the SFZ of the DVD 10 into the memory 14 (S34) Afterwards, ifin script display mode, the controlling unit 13 receives an address of aVOBU being currently reproduced from the reproduction processing unit 12or knows the address from the already-stored VTSI in the memory 14(S38), and it searches the memory 14 for a script file named with thereceived or known address or with an address closest to and smaller thanthe received or known address (S39). If found, the controlling unit 13transmits contents of the found script file to the reproductionprocessing unit 12 to be presented with reproduced moving pictures in ascreen.

[0066] If the found script file contains only null data or has a specialcode indicative of no linked additional information in its filename, thecontrolling unit 13 supplies the reproduction processing unit 12 with asignal indicative of no information to blank a present script window asthe former embodiment.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 12, the moving pictures and its relatedadditional information may be displayed together through a conventionalWeb browser used for surfing Internet. In case of using Web browser, thescript window for additional information can be scrolled to a previousor a next scene descriptive information by commands or clicks from aviewer. In addition, the descriptive data written in a script file maybe made out in the form of hyper-text in order that a viewer mightobtain with ease more detailed information related with a part of text,e.g., a word or a phrase by simply clicking it.

[0068] The above-explained method of linking additional information witheach section of moving picture data and method and apparatus ofreproducing a recording medium including the additional information aswell as moving picture data make it possible for a viewer to obtain withease additional and/or detailed information related to moving picturedata reproduced from a recording medium such as a DVD.

[0069] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that variousmodifications and variations can be made in the present inventionwithout departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it isintended that the present invention cover the modifications andvariations of this invention provided they come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A recording medium, comprising: moving picturedata; additional information, written in the form of file, related withsaid moving picture data; and link information linking said at least onelink information file with said moving picture data.
 2. The recordingmedium of claim 1, wherein said link information is written in the samearea where said additional information is written.
 3. The recordingmedium of claim 1, wherein said link information is composed of at leastone link entry which consists of a recording address of an additionalinformation file and an address of a start video object unit of movingpicture data section to be presented together with contents of theadditional information file.
 4. The recording medium of claim 1, whereinsaid link information is composed of at least one link entry whichconsists of a filename of an additional information file and an addressof a start video object unit of moving picture data section to bepresented together with contents of the additional information file. 5.The recording medium of claim 1, wherein said link information file isassociated one-to-one with program chain information which specifies aprogram section of the moving picture data and hasreproduction-controlling information for the program section.
 6. Therecording medium of claim 5, wherein said link information file hasfilename identified by order of associated program chain information. 7.The recording medium of claim 5, wherein said program chain informationincludes a flag indicative of whether there is additional informationassociated with the program section or not.
 8. The recording medium ofclaim 7, wherein said flag is 1-bit long and is allocated in a programchain content field of said program chain information.
 9. A method ofreproducing a recording medium, comprising the steps of: (a) determiningwhether there is at least one file including additional information formoving picture data on the recording medium; (b) selecting linkinformation linking said at least one link information file with atleast one section of moving picture data based on the determinationresult, reading the selected link information from the recording medium,and storing the read link information into storage means other than therecording medium; and (c) searching for an additional information filelinked with presently reproduced moving picture data with reference tothe stored link information, and outputting contents of the foundadditional information file together with moving picture data.
 10. Themethod of claim 9, wherein said step (a) determines whether there is atleast one file including additional information or not based on value ofa 1-bit flag allocated in a program chain content field of program chaininformation written on the recording medium.
 11. The method of claim 9,wherein said step (b) further determines that there is no additionalinformation associated with said at least one section of moving picturedata if the selected link information is not found.
 12. The method ofclaim 9, wherein said link information is composed of at least one linkentry which consists of a recording address or a filename of anadditional information file and an address of a start video object unitof moving picture data section to be presented together with contents ofthe additional information file.
 13. The method of claim 9, wherein saidstep (c) searches the stored link information for an address equal to orclosest to and smaller than an address of presently reproduced videoobject unit, searches for an additional information file written at arecording address linked with the found address or named with the foundaddress, and outputs contents of the found additional information filetogether with moving picture data.
 14. The method of claim 9, whereinsaid link information file is associated one-to-one with program chaininformation which specifies a program section of the moving picture dataand has reproduction-controlling information for the program section.15. The method of claim 14, wherein said link information file hasfilename identified by order of associated program chain information.16. An apparatus of reproducing a recording medium, comprising: a datapickup reading data recorded on the recording medium; a data storage forstoring link information, read by said data pickup, linking at least onefile, which includes additional information about moving picture datarecorded on the recording medium, with moving picture data; and acontroller searching for an additional information file linked withpresently reproduced moving picture data based on the link informationstored in said data storage, and having contents of the found additionalinformation file presented.